Fifteen: The Ultimate Power

The Gravemind dropped the Arbiter on a cliff edge somewhere else on Installation Zero-Five. He rubbed his irritated wrists, glad to be free of the creature but unsure where it had left him, noting that he also still had the band that the god had given him. But at least the Flood thing had not left him unarmed; a fully-charged plasma rifle lay at his feet on a rock stained with blood. He scooped it up and headed into the brush before him, searching for the source of the blood.

He found his brethren slaughtered. Some of them were still alive, being tended to and guarded by a few Forerunners in a small camp near the cliff. When he went to one knee next to one of them, the other Sangheili managed to gasp out, "The Brutes have betrayed us. The Councilors..."

The Arbiter squeezed his mandibles in fury, and accepted the plasma sword that one of the Holy Ones handed him. When he ignited it, the blade was red - the color of rage. "It uses the energy of your motion to recharge its battery," said the Forerunner, "It will never run out of power, unless it breaks. Use it well."

He inclined his head to them, a gesture they returned, and he kept moving, swapping out his plasma pistols for a Brute shot and killing all of the Jiralhanae he came across. When he paused outside a Forerunner structure, a SpecOps Sangheili emerged from within and greeted him with a respectful bow before looking around. "By the Prophets," he murmured, "What have these Brutes done? They have shed our brothers' blood, and for that they must die."

Thel agreed and they both turned to go - when several drop pods fell out of the sky from ships being overrun by Brutes. "So much for a stealthy advance," the other grunted, but both of them were grateful for the support. They all entered the structure, where they found a cavern with Jackals chasing terrified Grunts on the upper levels while some Brutes laughed, their backs turned to the door.

The Arbiter ran them through with the Holy Ones' red sword, while the other Sangheili gunned for the Kig-Yar, rescuing the Unggoy and leading them on.

The next room had two levels, and they'd emerged on the upper one, the Jiralhanae and Kig-Yar on the floor below. Their plasma grenades were sufficient to slay the Brutes, and they took care of the Jackals personally, pausing to murmur a soft prayer for their fallen brothers, bodies discarded like they weren't even worth consuming. The following room was also multi-tiered, and they dropped down each successive level after firing and dropping grenades on the foes of the level below.

As they continued on, they found more bodies of their brothers, some of whom were known and recognized, earning cries of rage. But they did not let their anger rule them, instead honing it into a weapon as sharp and hot as their plasma swords, wielded on the next Brutes they came across. The Jiralhanae barely slowed their advance, there and when they emerged outside. A squad had waited in vain to kill them; instead they were themselves slain.

They followed the canyon beyond to a Brute Captain who proved cleverer than most of his kind. He kept them away with grenades from his Brute shot and was sparing with the rounds, forcing them to take cover behind the rocks.

He was not clever enough to take cover himself. One of the Forerunners shot him from afar with another of the black rifles, letting the Sangheili take the unmanned Ghosts nearby and race ahead through the canyons. Before long they had acquired more of the vehicles, enough for them all to be mounted. The Holy Ones themselves vanished soon after, but intuition told Thel that they had not gone far.

The Sangheili continued on in the same fashion until they reached the end of the path in two circular canyons, a waterfall pouring over the side of one. There were Brutes everywhere, along with two Wraiths harrying another small knot of survivors, including a gold-armored Field Marshal.

They moved to aid their brothers, the Forerunners reappearing shortly after. Were they the same ones as before or different? The Arbiter didn't know; most of them looked similar, and they all wore similar armor, the metallic green and black. But either way, all of them seemed to be allies, so did it really matter?

One of the Wraiths exploded under their combined fire, while a brave Minor ran out and hijacked the other, turning its fire on the Brutes guarding the tunnel out of the canyon. The blast door at the end of the tunnel let them out on the beach. As they ran across the smooth sand, a Wraith rounded a corner ahead and approached them. They halted and lifted their weapons, but just as it drew close, it deactivated, and - Rtas 'Vadumee emerged from inside. None of the Sangheili had ever been so happy to see the SpecOps Commander before. "By the Rings, Arbiter," he growled, noting their injuries, "The Councilors - are they -"

"Murdered, by the Brutes," Thel replied, mandibles set into a grim line.

"Vile, disloyal beasts," the SpecOps Sangheili snarled, slamming his fist down on the tank, "The Prophets were fools to trust them."

The Arbiter was about to explain that it was the Prophets who ordered it when a Phantom swooped overhead and stopped at the door of the Control Room. It deposited Tartarus, a few of his Brutes, and a human female on the platform, and they quickly proceeded inside.

-------------------------------------------

The Spartans arrived on the launch platform just in time to see the last of the Phantoms take off from the tower, no doubt carrying their target. Fred let out a furious breath, then noticed movement. One of the two remaining Prophets had been abandoned on the tower platform to struggle against a lone Infection Pod, and he led the way over to it, the other Spartans following behind, weapons raised. "Your pal. Where's he going?" It was phrased as a question, but his tone brooked no argument.

"Earth," the Prophet gasped, voice triumphant even as he died, "To finish what we started. And this time, none of you will be left behind." He cried out in pain when Fred tugged the Infection pod off of his throat, and it popped in his grasp, causing him to make a face and wipe the slime off on Mercy's robes. The fight had taken the last of the Prophet's strength, because he breathed his last not long after.

Cortana materialized on Mercy's throne and said, "That structure in the center of the city - it's a Forerunner ship! And Truth is heading straight for it! If he leads the Covenant fleet to Earth, they won't stand a chance; you have to stop him."

"That Brute has the Index, and Miranda and Johnson," Jai interjected, "He can activate the ring."

"If he does, I'll detonate In Amber Clad's reactor just like we did the Autumn's. The blast will destroy this city and the ring. Not a very original plan, but we know it'll work." Fred reached for her, but she took a step back. "No. I don't want to chance a remote detonation. I need to stay here."

A Pelican - piloted very inexpertly - swerved over and crashed onto their platform, releasing an army of combat forms in their direction. A few of the Spartans cursed as they lifted their weapons and fired on the parasitic life form as it charged them.

"Flood-controlled dropships are touching down all over the city," Cortana told them over the COM, "That creature beneath the Library - the Gravemind - used us. We were just a diversion. In Amber Clad was always its intended vector.

"There's a conduit connecting this tower to the ship. Head back inside; I'll lead you to it."

The AI herself was already preparing countermeasures against the Gravemind, leaving stripped-down copies and personality spikes in every system that could hold them, hoping to keep it off her, at least for a little while. She also found the ship that carried her message and dropped it off in advance, knowing that at least John and his team would know to go looking for it.

Meanwhile, the Spartans bolted for the door leading into the tower, firing on the Covenant that came out. They entered the tower and charged across the room, where they were met by a pack of Brutes fighting Infected Elites and humans. They gunned down anything in front of them but ignored everything else unless it turned to pursue. They had to hurry - they couldn't let Truth launch that ship without them onboard!

The two teams plowed into the next room, which was completely dominated by a gravity lift. "Going up," Cortana said, "I'll disable this grav lift once you reach the top. That should slow them down."

The next room was a cavernous space, the upper levels of the Mausoleum of the Arbiter. The walls up here were coated in glass - glass from destroyed worlds. The sight of it enraged the Spartans - how many of these were human worlds? How many of them weren't? How many planets had the Covenant run roughshod over before destroying them?

No more. No. More.

A central platform descended from somewhere above to stop in the center of the chamber, level with their platform. Energy beams extended out from it, and gravity conveyors activated, carrying them from platform to platform around the edge of the room. They mowed through the Covenant and the Flood between them and Truth, halting only long enough to patch Kelly's suit when it was breached; there was no telling if they would need to go EVA in the near future, and no need to risk getting Flood spores in the wound.

The Flood was already starting to take root in the city, biomass and blister pods starting to grow on the walls, Infection Pods flinging themselves into everyone's midst. There were still some Sangheili survivors as well, and they seemed to have received Cortana's first message, too, because they fell in with the Demons without even a blink. When she got the chance, the AI in question directed the aliens to safe routes through the station, more Forerunners appearing to supplement the Spartans where they could and guide the Sangheili safely away.

The humans ignored the announcements coming over High Charity's PA system - until the Gravemind came on to respond to Truth. "Arrogant creature," it boomed, its voice magnified a thousand times, "Your deaths will be instantaneous, while we shall suffer the progress of infinitude!"

Cortana was saying something about the security systems in this part of the tower, but they couldn't pay attention to her. Their ears were filled with a strange pulsing sensation, not unlike the beating of a heart. The Gravemind? Was it influencing them somehow? But there was something fighting it - they could feel it trying to shield them.

Truth came over the PA system again. "Who so ever is gripped by fear, take heed. I am the Prophet of Truth, and I am not afraid. Noble Mercy is here at my side, his wise counsel near to my ears."

The Gravemind again, even more sinisterly: "We exist together now; two corpses, in one grave."

They packed themselves tightly together on an elevator of some kind, all of them just barely managing to fit, and Kelly bent an arm at a truly uncomfortable angle to activate it and send them soaring upward. "These are the Prophet Hierarchs' private quarters," Cortana told them as their minds began to clear, "their inner sanctum." They were out of the worst of the Flood mist, now, but they were not out of the woods yet; they could hear arms fire as they spilled out onto a walkway, grateful to be free of the tight quarters on the elevator.

"Not too much further?" Fred half-asked as they started running again.

"Not for you."

The chambers had guards, of course, but the operative word was had; the Spartans killed them like they had killed everything else in their way and kept running. Some combat forms served themselves up for a shotgun shell to the chest, which the Spartans delivered gladly, sending limbs flying.

"Almost there," Cortana told them, "Head through the door on your right and up the grav lift."

Offensive Bias - now part of the fleet - was stalling the launch sequence, and reported to them all that there was a fragment of Mendicant Bias on board, the AI who betrayed the Forerunners. He was the reason the Covenant had a prohibition against AIs, and yet they had been worshipping him as an Oracle for centuries. But even though he was a verified Forerunner ancilla, the other was fighting hard against him, trying to launch the Anodyne Spirit.

The Spartans flew out of the grav lift one after another and raced across the loading zone, ignoring the Flood and the Covenant until they reached the actual boarding area. There, those that weren't next in line for the conduit turned and engaged all enemies in sight, even as beam rifle shots whizzed past them from the Dreadnought. Fred was last, and Offensive Bias finally let go as he cleared the last accelerator, bidding Cortana farewell and jumping back to the Last Fleet.

There were a handful of Forerunners already waiting inside the cargo bay of the Spirit, armed and ready. Then, impossibly, Sergeant Smith's voice came over TEAMCOM. "After I'm through with Truth…"

"Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it," Cortana answered.

The Spirit accelerated through the opening in High Charity's ceiling, jumping to Slipspace the moment it reached the minimum safe distance from the dying station.

-------------------------------------------

"What is that place?" the Arbiter asked Rtas, nodding at the Control Room of Halo.

The Sangheili Ultra followed his gaze. "Where the Councilors were meant to watch the consecration of the Icon," he answered, "The start of the Great Journey."

The Gravemind's words echoed in Thel's mind: "There is still time to stop the key from turning." "I must get inside," he told Rtas, and the other nodded.

"Then mount up, Arbiter. I know a way to break those doors." Rtas heaved himself out of the Wraith and let the Arbiter take over, jogging over to the Spectre that had just arrived and climbing into the gunner seat. The Spectre led the way through the canyons, and Thel followed behind, using the Wraith's main gun to destroy the Brutes trying to stop them. They threw Ghosts and Wraiths and even a Phantom up against the Elites, but it wasn't enough - especially not when some Forerunner fighters called Phaetons dropped through the clouds to zip along overhead. The single fighters were small but lethal against the Brutes and their allies.

All the while, the Arbiter wondered what Rtas could possibly have up his sleeve that could break down the doors of the Control Room - until he saw the legs of the Scarab.

Yep. That would do it.

"There, Arbiter," the SpecOps Commander called, "That Scarab's main gun will break the Control Room's door. At the far end of the beach there's a passage into the cliff. It'll take you up to the Scarab."

Thel steered the Wraith in the direction Rtas had indicated, the Phaetons flying ahead and destroying the two enemy Wraiths and all the ground troops in his way. When he hopped out, he waived his thanks, and the Phaetons rolled in reply, then soared off to provide support elsewhere.

'Vadumee spoke again: "The Brutes control the cruiser, Arbiter. I'll remain here, make sure no reinforcements get in behind you. Then, I'm going to take the cruiser back!"

The Sangheili acknowledged his words and entered through the blast door, drawing up short when he found himself nose-to-muzzle with a fuel rod gun. There were two Hunters guarding the door, and for a moment he feared that he would have to run back to the Wraith in order to fight them. But then someone cried, "The Arbiter? I thought he was dead! Hold your fire!"

The Mgalekgolo lowered their weapons, and a SpecOps Sangheili appeared from behind them, lowering his plasma rifles. "The Hunters have come to our aid, Arbiter," said the Elite, "They will fight by our side."

The Sangheili looked up at the two armored behemoths and said, "I am honored to have you with us."

The pair acknowledged his praise with a quiet rumble before following the two Elites into the next room and through the door, around a bend and out into the open floor of the chamber beyond. They all fired at the Brutes on the upper levels, the Hunters' fuel rod guns doing the most damage for obvious reasons.

Beyond the next door was a short tunnel that opened up into a wider cavern, and the path went U-shaped around the circumference. The Hunters proved just as valuable there, the charges from their guns arcing across the gap, their tough armor protecting them from the Brute shots while the Sangheili circled around to flank the enemy.

They sent Brutes flying and kept moving through another door to a bridge held by Jackals and Drones. A pair of grenades killed the Kig-Yar, and they filled the air with a haze of plasma to take out the Yam'ee. There wasn't anything that they could really do about the Phantom hovering next to the bridge, so they ducked through another hatch.

Not far beyond was a chamber serving as a prison for some surviving councilors and another pair of Hunters. "Free our brothers!" the SpecOps Sangheili shouted, "Death to the Brutes!"

Thel went straight for the cells and broke them open to let the prisoners join the battle. The Councilors quickly proved that their plasma swords were functional as well as ceremonial, putting the Brutes to the edge of the blade, and they all passed through one more large hall before emerging on the Scarab platform.

As they charged out into the open, they heard the Brutes talking about executing their prisoners. Rather than slay them as they originally would have done, the Elites freed the humans, and all of them turned their weapons on the Brutes, alongside the Forerunners on the cliff edge above.

Just as the Arbiter turned to board the Scarab, it activated on its own.

"Listen," Johnson growled, "you don't like me and I sure as hell don't like you. But if we don't do something, Mister Mohawk's gonna activate this ring, and we're all gonna die."

"Tartarus has locked himself inside the Control Room," the Sangheili answered.

"Well, I just happen to have a key." The panels covering the Scarab's firing mechanism folded away, the emitter glowing a bright acid green. "C'mon. Grab a Banshee and give me some cover. They're gonna know we're coming."

The Scarab stamped away from the platform, though not before the Forerunners leaped across and landed on top. A pair of Banshees flew over, and one landed nearby, its pilot unhesitatingly offering it for the Arbiter's use. He took to the skies and joined the Phaetons, which had swooped back down out of the clouds to escort the Scarab as Johnson, Stacker, and Banks got it up to speed. The fighters moved ahead of the machine, destroying Wraiths and Ghosts and even a Phantom who tried to damage the Scarab.

Johnson chuckled as they drew near to the Control Room. "Hey! Bastard! Knock, knock!"

The great gun on the front of the Scarab began to charge as the protective panels folded away, and it released a long stream of plasma at the blast doors, the slag from the firing process dripping free to splatter on the beach and vitrify the sand under it.

The Phaetons broke away, letting Arbiter move in first. He flew straight up to the door and bailed out of the Banshee, not worrying in the slightest about any nearby enemies. Anyone unwise enough to stay close to the doors when Johnson had been incinerated - if they were lucky. If not, then they were being cooked alive under the wreckage. There was another blast door just beyond all the destruction; it slid open at his approach. At the same time, another blast door on the far side of the room spilled a group of Brute Captains out into the antechamber, each carrying either a Brute shot or a carbine. But the Arbiter decided to be clever and activated his active camouflage to slip around and take them from behind.

-------------------------------------------

"Come, human, it is easy," Tartarus growled, trying to coax Miranda into inserting the Index, "Take the Icon in your hands..." When she turned away yet again, he snarled furiously, slamming his hand down onto the console. "And do as you are told!"

From where he was tucked under another Brutes' arm, 343 Guilty Spark piped up, "Please, use caution! This Reclaimer is delicate."

"One more word, Oracle, and I'll rip your eye from its socket!" Tartarus snapped at the Monitor. He turned to Keyes and shoved her forward, making her grunt when she hit the control panel. "Which is nothing compared to what I'll do to you."

"Tartarus, stop."

The Chieftain gasped and whirled around, shocked to see the Arbiter standing between them and the doors, almost entirely unharmed. "Impossible!"

"Put down the Icon," the Sangheili said firmly.

"Put it down?" Tartarus' voice was filled with disbelief. "And disobey the Hierarchs?"

"There are things about Halo even the Hierarchs do not understand."

The other Jiralhanae stepped forward menacingly, prepared to punish the Sangheili for daring to doubt the Prophets. Tartarus waved them off and growled, "Take care, Arbiter. What you say is heresy!"

"Is it?" he demanded, then turned to Spark. "Oracle, what is Halo's purpose?"

"Well, collectively, the seven-" Guilty Spark began, but Tartarus cut him off.

The Brute grabbed him and snarled into his optical sensor, "Not another word!"

"Please..."

Sergeant Johnson was now at the Arbiter's elbow, holding a beam rifle aimed at Tartarus's head. "Don't shake the light bulb." Tartarus's adjutants took a threatening step forward, but Johnson lifted the rifle into firing position, snapping, "If you wanna keep your brain inside your head, I'd tell those boys to chill."

The Chieftain gritted his teeth and barked the command in the Brutes' snarling language, forcing the others to stand down.

"Go ahead," Johnson said, nodding to the Arbiter but still keeping his weapon up, "Do your thing."

The Sangheili nodded back, then said to the Monitor, "The Sacred Rings, what are they?"

"Weapons of last resort, built by the Forerunners to eliminate potential Flood hosts, thereby rendering the parasite harmless," he answered in his usual cheerful tone.

"And those who made the rings?" the Arbiter prompted, "What happened to the Forerunners?"

"After exhausting every other strategic option, my creators activated the rings. They and all additional sentient life within three radii of the galactic center - died, as planned." Spark saw the Arbiter lower his head in sadness and seemed to realize that he had touched on a sensitive subject. "Would you... like to see the relevant data?"

"Tartarus," Thel said finally, "The Prophets have betrayed us."

Tartarus appeared temporarily frozen in disbelief, then he grabbed Spark and threw him at Johnson's head, knocking the man to the ground. Then he grabbed Miranda, pressed the Index into her hands, and forced her to insert it into the console. She reeled back in horror even as he released her to take up the Fist of Rukt.

"Now, Arbiter," the Jiralhanae snarled, energy shield spinning up around him, "the Great Journey has begun! And the Brutes, not the Elites, shall be the Prophets' escort!"

The ancient machinery groaned to life around them. The main platform split into three separate levels with a central current of energy acting like a gravity lift to tie the whole thing together. The Chieftain turned and leapt to the platforms, forcing the Arbiter, Johnson, and the recently arrived Sangheili and Forerunners to deal with his captains before following him to the platform. The Forerunners hung back on the main path, still wielding their long black rifles.

A single shot from one of them was enough to bring down Tartarus's energy shield by more than half, and the Sangheili raced to take advantage even as the now-free Monitor observed the firing procedure. "Charging sequence initiated," he said, "Primary generators coming online."

"Well, shut them down!" Miranda snapped at him as she took cover, one of the Forerunners moving forward to protect her, another serving as spotter for Johnson.

"Apology," Spark said, zooming past beyond the platforms, "Protocol does not allow me to interfere with any aspect of this sequence."

"Then how do I stop it?"

"Well, it will take some time to go over the proper procedures, I—"

"Quit stalling!"

"Under more controlled circumstances, I would suggest the Reclaimer simply remove the Index."

"That's it? Johnson, I'm on it!"

"Hang tight, ma'am!" the sergeant shouted back, "Not until that Brute is dead!"

His beam rifle took the Brute's shield down the rest of the way, but the Arbiter was not close enough to take advantage. Johnson and the Forerunners kept firing, and finally, Thel was able to run the Brute through with the Holy Ones' red blade.

Miranda reacted immediately and jumped onto one of the platforms spinning around the central three. She ducked to avoid another that whizzed perilously close overhead before leaping again, this time down onto the middle platform. She sprinted forward as fast as she possibly could and snatched the Index from the beam, letting out a breath of relief - just as the whole room began to shake.

Overhead, a built-up ball of energy fired skyward toward the focus of the circle the Halo formed, melding with a gathering ball of golden energy in the center and turning it a brilliant sky blue, right before it shrank and then exploded outward in a starburst of energy, temporarily throwing the darkness of space into brilliant light before fading into nothing.

-------------------------------------------

Miranda stood before the hologram of tightly packed characters of incomprehensible gibberish, a Forerunner on either side of her. "What's this?" she asked them.

Before they could reply, they heard someone humming and turning to see Guilty Spark flying over to them, Johnson clinging to his casing. "A beacon," the Monitor replied.

"What's it doing?"

"Communicating a superluminal speeds with a frequency of-"

"Communicating with what?"

"The other installations."

"Show me," she ordered.

The Monitor expanded the hologram to show all seven of the Halo rings, one of them - Zero-Four - flashing an error message. "Failsafe protocol," Spark said, "In the event of unexpected shut down the entire system will move to stand-by status. All remaining platforms are now ready for remote activation."

"Remote activation? From here?"

In a patronizing tone, "Don't be ridiculous!"

"Listen, Tinkerbelle, don't make me…" Johnson growled at him, but he trailed off when Keyes laid a hand on his shoulder to quiet him.

"Then where?" she asked, "Where would someone go to activate the other rings?"

Spark paused, seeming momentarily confused or searching his database. "Why, the Ark, of course."

"And where, Oracle," the Arbiter asked as he walked up behind them, "is that?"

-------------------------------------------

The Anodyne Spirit dropped out of Slipspace above Earth, where UNSC and Covenant ships were already engaging one another. Over an open UNSC channel, an officer's voice reached the Spartans. "Sir, we've got a new contact, unknown classification!"

The Spartans lifted their heads to listen.

"It isn't one of ours," Lord Hood came on the line, "take it out."

Shit! "This is SPARTAN-104, can anyone hear me? Over."

"Isolate that signal!" Hood barked immediately, then asked, "Master Chief? You mind telling me what you're doing on that ship?"

"Sir, finishing this fight."

-------------------------------------------

High Charity, once the crown of the Covenant empire, was now a hive infested with Flood, a world of no hope for any still left on board. The air was filled Flood spores, swirling into every crevice and dropping visibility to practically zero.

But it was not silent; a broken door kept trying to shut deep within the inner sanctum, the rhythmic banging of it hitting the bulkhead echoing through the empty halls.

"Silence fills the empty grave, now that I have gone..."

The voice echoed within the silence of the Council Hall, seemingly a thousand times more malicious than usual.

"...but my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on."

Cortana sensed the approach of her warden and materialized on the holopanel. It had taken it a lot longer to find her, chewing through the data-stripped copies she had scattered through the station.

"I will ask, and you will answer."

She shoved away the tentacle that reached for her and smirked. "All right. Shoot."